A mad journey into the mind of the depraved!

Recommended for devolved primates only!

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

THE ORACLE (1985)

Director Roberta Findlay's first foray into the world of 80s horror after doing a bunch of pornos going all the way back to the 60s. While there are a few segments that keep this from being a total waste it's not her best work(that would be TENEMENT made this same year). The plot kind of melds a story of a serial killer with the tale of a haunted ghostly planchette( that thing you put on Ouija boards) that makes people kill themselves(was this the inspiration for WITCHBOARD??). There is some gore to be seen, the blood does flow pretty freely but there is one early prostitute murder sequence that seems very censored and cuts away before anything graphic happens for some reason.
The oddest thing about this whole movie is the psycho murderer is played by a heavyset woman(Pam La Testa) whose voice is overdubbed with this weird sounding Divine-like drawl and she is constantly referred to as a man up until the scene where she disguises herself as a waitress. So I'm not sure if she's supposed to be some kinda tranny but it definitely adds a unique element here.
I was lucky enough to catch this at a screening where Miss Roberta did a rare appearance along with one of the stars, Pam La Testa, which was great to see and did give me this fond memory even if this is probably not something I'm ever gonna watch again.